Breaking The Rules
by Kukuyoi Pancake
Summary: Carlitos Escutia is a new Spanish teacher at Meiou Academy. After only a few weeks into her job, she puts an announcement up for an after school helper to free up some of her time and workload. She didn't expect the popular Shuichi Minamino to be her assistant, nor did she expect to fall so hard for him. Should she break the rules or keep her distance? (Full Summary Inside)
1. Prologue

_**Summary:** Carlitos Escutia is a psychologist who moved to Japan from the United States, seeking to try something different in life. While she is working to become certified to practice psychology in Japan, she got a job as a Spanish teacher at Meiou Academy, a prestigious school for kids whose families had money or smart enough to pass the entrance exam. Seeing as how she is already busy with psychology and work, she puts out an announcement for an after school helper to take some of the workload off of her shoulders and to help with tedious tasks. What she didn't expect was the most popular, well-liked, and possibly the smartest kid in school, Shuichi Minamino, to walk into her classroom and offer her the help she needed. Nor did she expect to get closer with the boy after each day they spent together. Escutia knew that she shouldn't be getting this close to a teenage boy not just because of moral implications, but possibly legal. Should she break the rules or stay away?_

 ** _Rated M for drug, alcohol, and sexual themes in later chapters._  
**

* * *

" _Miss Escutia?"_

 _Brown eyes darted up and scanned the room to finally rest on the slim figure of a Japanese lady. The lady stared at her with a smile of warmth and friendliness, a smile that she returned. Miss Escutia gathered all of her belongings and rose from her seat, walking swiftly and gracefully over to the lady she was just staring at._

" _That would be me," Miss Escutia replied to the woman's earlier question._

" _Well, Miss Escutia, I am Mrs. Arakawa, the principle here at Meiou Academy."_

" _It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Arakawa," Escutia responded, bowing to the woman._

" _Likewise," Mrs. Arakawa bowed back, although not as deeply. "Please follow me back to my office, Miss Escutia."_

 _Mrs. Arakawa opened the door for Escutia, who took the cue and went in first, stopping a short ways down the hall to wait for the principle. After a few moments, Mrs. Arakawa caught up and took the lead, leading the way down the hallway and past some desks of higher ranking staff within the school. Soon, they arrived at a short, narrow hallway that hosted three doors, one on each face of the wall. Escutia made out which office was Mrs. Arakawa's, which wasn't hard because of the lettering on the window of the door._

 _Mrs. Arakawa lead her down the short hallway and opened the door to her office, entering it first before holding the door open for Escutia. Escutia uttered a small thank you before taking a chair and settling down at the request of Mrs. Arakawa. Escutia looked at the desk of the principle, which was currently a mess. Papers were everywhere and a tall slim container of what Escutia only hoped was oatmeal, lay the middle of the mess._

" _Oh, dear me, excuse the mess. I was just looking over paper work while on my lunch break," Mrs. Arakawa laughed, Escutia could sense the awkwardness in her laughed and smiled reassuringly. "Give me a moment, if you will, to clean up before we start."_

" _Oh, no, take your time," Escutia responded sweetly, earning a smile from the woman._

 _It was at this moment, Escutia took the time to survey the lady and her surroundings. Meiou Academy, from what she has seen so far, was a nice and well kept school. You can tell Mao is a high end private academy just by walking into the lobby. The office of the principle was nice, slightly messy, but nice. A big bay window adorned the left wall of the office, letting in plenty of natural light. The office was carpeted with dark blue carpet and had a smooth ceiling and white walls. Beautiful paintings of the beach were posted around the room._

 _Escutia looked over at the principle's desk, two corner pictures sat at each end adorned by small outlaying picture frames. The desk that was previously a mess, has been cleaned up, papers stacked neatly and nicely, and her, hopefully oatmeal, lunch was put away. Escutia's eyes them moved from the desk to the principle herself, Mrs. Arakawa._

 _Mrs. Arakawa was beautiful, now that Escutia really looked at her. Even though she is in her early-to-mid thirties, she had a youthful appearance. Mrs. Arakawa appeared to be lightly toned and slightly taller than Escutia herself. Escutia, however, couldn't help but notice her big brown eyes and perfectly clear pale skin as well as the smile she always seemed to hold on her lips. Escutia was beginning to wonder if this woman only had one emotion; happy._

" _Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Escutia," Mrs. Arakawa spoke as she took a seat in her chair._

 _Escutia waved it off playfully. "You're fine."_

" _Okay, let me see here...," Mrs. Arakawa trailed off as she opened one of the drawers towards the bottom of her desk. "Things have been hectic lately with all that is happening right before the school year."_

" _I understand," Escutia responded. "I was looking at some pictures posted on your walls, you seem to really like the beach."_

" _Hmm?" Mrs. Arakawa looked up and around the room. "Oh yes, I absolutely love the beach. Most of my family trips have been to places with beaches," she laughed lightly as she set some manila file folders on her desk._

" _Is there anyway I can ask where without being intrusive?" Escutia spoke innocently._

 _Mrs. Arakawa laughed. "Of course, I don't mind," she said as she leaned forwards onto her desk. "Let's see, I have been to Rio De Janeiro, Barcelona, and Sydney among st others."_

" _Wow, I've heard they are popular travel destinations among st tourists." Escutia responded._

" _They are, believe me," Mrs. Arakawa smiled. "Okay, let's get down to business."_

 _Mrs. Arakawa looked down at her stack of manila folders and began to thumb through them, silently reading the names written on the folders. After a what seemed like a while, she finally pulled a folder out of the stack._

" _Miss Carlitos Escutia?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Alright, just making sure," She said as she grabbed the rest of the manila folders and placed them back in her desk._

 _Mrs. Arakawa opened the folder with Escutia's name on it and quickly scanned through the papers placed in it before grabbing a pen from the top drawer of her desk and leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs as she did so._

" _So, Miss Escutia, let's start off with you telling me a little about yourself. Your full name, your age, and background; where were you born, where did you grow up, schooling, degrees and certificates... I'm sure you get the gist of it."_

" _Yes. My full name is Carlitos Escutia, I am twenty-one years of age, and I was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I lived in Mexico until I was twelve then I moved to the United States. There I resided in Arizona, finished high school and then went on to go to Arizona State University before transferring to University of Arizona for my post graduate degree." Escutia paused after she said this, letting everything sink in to the woman's mind._

" _I see, tell me about your degrees, certificates and qualifications."_

" _I have a PH.D in psychology with minors in sociology, biology, mathematics, and health sciences. My degree is accredited by the American Psychological Association, of course, and I am licensed by the state of Arizona to practice psychology individually."_

" _Wow, I am impressed, to have achieved too much already at such a young age," Mrs. Arakawa said. By the expression on her face and the tone of her voice, Escutia could tell that she was shocked, impressed, and seemingly joyful at the same time._

" _Why thank you." Escutia responded._

" _Of course. So tell me, do you know any other languages besides Spanish, English, and Japanese?"_

" _Yes, in addition to that, I also speak fluent German, french, Mandarin Chinese and I am currently in the process of learning Italian."_

" _Smart and talented I see. How remarkable." Mrs. Arakawa smiled. "So tell me, why would you choose to give up such a promising career path to teach high school students?"_

" _Well, I am not completely giving up psychology completely. In addition to working here, if I get the job, I will be dabbling in the community a little, so to speak."_

" _Could you elaborate more on that?"_

" _While I'm not giving up psychology completely, I don't mind the occasional invitation to lecture at institutions of learning, attend events, or even working on the weekends. While I loved my job, I feel like I need a change of pace, something much less time consuming and at a slower pace. If teaching goes well for me I might make the transition completely, but I will always be a part of a psychological community."_

" _I see, what field of psychology do you study in?" Mrs. Arakawa asked as she wrote down information on one of the pages with a pen she grabbed out of her desk._

" _I specialize in clinical psychology."_

" _But..." Mrs. Arakawa trailed off._

" _But I am knowledgeable in many fields of psychology and in addition to working in clinical psychology, I also study and help with research in plenty of fields." Escutia responded._

 _After Escutia finished speaking, a lull in the conversation formed as Mrs. Arakawa read some papers within your file. After a few minutes, however, she looked back up at Escutia and opened her mouth to speak again._

" _I am going to ask you a few hypothetical questions. These are mainly based on imaginary scenarios so do your best to answer them."_

" _Alright."_

 _Mrs. Arakawa read off the question to Escutia, who immediately shot back a response, surprising Arakawa, who, after her initial shock, simply smiled and read the rest of the questions off to Escutia. After each question, a response was heard almost immediately from Escutia. It went on like this for a while, Mrs. Arakawa asking questions while Escutia answered. After fifteen-to-thirty minutes Mrs. Arakawa was finished and leaning back in her seat once more, elbows resting on the arm rests of her chair and legs cross over one another as she fiddled with the pen in her hands._

 _Escutia could see her eyes scanning over the pages she had in front of her, reading the information and the words she had written herself on there. After a few minutes of sitting like this, Mrs. Arakawa looked up at Escutia and smiled lightly._

" _So suppose if I were to extend this job offer to you, would you accept?"_

" _Yes," Escutia responded._

" _You will be here on time, every day, and not miss many days throughout the school year, yes?"_

" _Indeed."_

 _Mrs. Arakawa paused again, sitting silently almost as if she was processing everything in her mind before she looked back up at Escutia once again and opened her mouth._

" _I have one last question for you."_

" _Yes?"_

" _If you accept this job offer, are you willing to accept...other teaching positions in addition to your own?"_

" _Do you mind telling me a bit more?"_

" _Meiou Academy is a prestigious school, we are always sponsoring, hosting events, and what not. We are always looking for ways to keep kids interested in their education, i.e adding more electives and courses for our kids to take that could pique their interests, such as Spanish and other foreign languages."_

" _So you are asking that if the opportunity arises if I am willing to teach another or more subjects in addition to what I'd already be teaching?"_

" _Yes, exactly."_

" _Of course."_

" _Good," Mrs. Arakawa sat up in her chair and smiled brightly. "Congratulations, Miss Escutia, you got the job."_

 _A small smile played across Escutia's lips and she thanked the principle. Within moments, Escutia had her possessions within her arms and was bowing to the principle._

" _Would you like me to walk you out?" Mrs. Arakawa asked._

" _No, it's fine. I remember the way," Escutia responded as she walked out of the principle's office._

" _Alright then, have a nice day."_

 _The last thing Escutia heard was the sound of the principle shutting her door behind her as she made her way out of the school building. It was a nice and sunny day, so nice she might have to sit outside for a while. The thought brought a smile to Escutia's lips as she walked over to her car parallel parked on the side of the road just a little ways down from the school entrance._


	2. Chapter 1

**_A/N: The first few chapters might be boring because...I'm still building the story up. Well I hope you enjoy, reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome, please refrain from flames. - Kukuyoi_**

* * *

Carlitos sighed for the hundredth time as she rolled over once more and snuggled up into her blankets. She was deeply annoyed, she wanted to sleep, but she could not get comfortable. Carlitos got the urge to roll over once more. With a rather displeased look on her face, she kicked the covers off and swung her legs over the bed. She sat there for a moment, still as a statue as she stared at her feet. After a moment or two, she sighed, again, and reached out to her alarm clock. Her eyes scanned over the digital screen before she flicked the alarm off with her pointer finger and stood up, stretching her muscles.

Carlitos walked over to her bedroom door and opened it, only to be greeted with the bright flashing lights of the TV rather than the darkness she was, for the most part, used to. She trudged lazily over to the couch and leaned her weight on the arm of the couch her roommate's head was laying on.

"Claude?" Carlitos yawned.

"Hmm?"

"Make me some coffee."

"Make it yourself," Claude retorted, looking up at you from her spot on the couch.

"I'm always rolling you cigarettes, contribute to our relationship and make me some coffee," Carlitos stated as she flicked Claude's forehead. Needless to say, she wasn't that impressed.

"Fine," she sighed as she weakly pushed herself off of the couch and onto her feet.

"Right on," Carlitos responded as she quickly occupied the place Claude was laying in moments ago.

"I see how you take my spot," Claude spoke from the kitchen, looking up at Carlitos from under her brow as she proceeded to pour hot coffee into a black mug before walking back over to her and handing it over.

"Coffee has already been made?" Carlitos questioned, receiving the cup.

"I made it last night and set the timer for it to brew this morning," Claude responded, walking back into the kitchen and making her own cup of coffee.

"I see," Carlitos replied, turning her attention back onto the TV to watch a bit of the news that Claude had been previously watching, sipping her coffee slowly.

"So, excited for your big day?" Claude asked, leaning against the kitchen counter ash she stared at you.

"What's so exciting about it?" Carlitos retorted, sipping her coffee as her head turned slowly towards Claude, eyes unwavering from the TV. Finally when the news cut into commercial, she turned her gaze towards the black haired girl.

"Well, for starters," Claude started before taking a quick sip from her coffee. "You're going to be teaching a bunch of high school kids who really have no respect for authority figures or care about their grades enough to actually turn in their homework."

"Maybe you should enroll in high school then, you'd fit right in," Carlitos smiled amusedly as Claude rolled her eyes.

"At least I graduated from high school," Claude stated.

"I didn't even make it to the sixth grade," Carlitos got up from the couch, coffee cup gripped in her hand as she walked into the kitchen. "But look at me now."

Carlitos stopped just past Claude and leaned over the counter, pulling a red plate towards her filled with tobacco.

"I have a accomplished more things academically then most people my age...amongst many other things." Carlitos continued.

"I suppose all of that is true," Claude responded, looking up to see Carlitos leaning against the kitchen counter holding up two cigarettes.

"You mean it is true," Carlitos handed Claude a cigarette before turning around and grabbing her coffee.

"I don't know about you, but I am going outside to smoke," Carlitos walked past Claude with her coffee and over to the sliding glass doors. Claude trailed right behind her as they went outside and stood out on the balcony of their rather small apartment, looking out at all of the houses as the sun rose in the horizon.

Claude simply watched as Carlitos puffed on her cigarette, blowing the smoke out in the opposite direction as her eyes focused on the rising sun.

"So I never got to ask you, how was all of your orientations and such?" Claude asked, flicking the ask of her cigarette into the ashtray besides Carlitos.

"Well," Carlitos took a sip of her coffee. "I attended a meeting a little over two weeks ago for new teachers at Meiou Academy. It was basically a run down of the code of conduct, and what your job is, and just things like that. Completely boring."

"So you were just at the school preparing for the last week?"

"Pretty much. I got a head start on my lesson plans and," Carlitos took a hit off of her cigarette. "Just pretty much doing things like that. I got my lesson plans, notes, and even homework assignments and classwork printed and mapped out for the first month."

"That's good."

"Yeah," Carlitos replied as she put her cigarette out in the ashtray next to her. "I need to go fuckin' get ready."

Claude put her cigarette out and followed Carlitos into the apartment, shutting the door behind her as she came in. Claude watched Carlitos set her coffee mug on the counter before walking towards the short hallway that lead to both of their rooms and that bathroom.

Carlitos pushed opened the door to her bedroom and turned on the light as she walked over to her nightstand to rummage through her drawer for underwear. She opened the top drawer and grabbed the first pair of underwear and a bra she saw, even if they didn't match, and closed the drawer. Carlitos tossed her undergarments on her bed and walked over to her closet, sliding the door open to pick out an outfit to wear.

"Hey Claude," Carlitos called.

Not even a moment later, Claude entered the room.

"You called?"

"Yeah, what should I wear?" Carlitos asked, pulling two pairs of pants out of her closet and holding them up in front of her for Claude to see.

"That depends, what color shirt are you wearing?" Claude asked as she sat down on Carlitos bed, pulling her socked feet up to rest on the side of the bed frame.

"White."

"Blouse?"

"Mmhm," Carlitos hummed as she took another garment out of her closet and off of the hanger and tossed it onto her bed, next to Claude.

Claude picked up the shirt and examined it, turning it front to back before setting it down beside her. "Wear the black slacks, also, do you have a blazer?"

"Actually, the pants came with one."

"Great, wear it. Wear a tank top under your shirt too, it's a little see through." Claude said as she got up from Carlitos bed.

"I don't own a white tank top."

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Claude started as she left the room, returning a few moments later with a white garment balled up in her hand. "You don't own any."

Carlitos watched as Claude tossed the white tank top on her bed before returning to taking her clothes off of the hangers. Once done, she slid her closet door closed and walked over to her bed, grabbing all of the articles of clothing in her arms before walking out of her room and into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, Carlitos started a the shower and tied her hair in a bun on top of her head as she waited for the water to warm up.

Once the water was scorching hot, Carlitos jumped in, immediately proceeding to scrub her body down and, since she was in the shower, wash her face. After all was said and done, she turned the water off, dried, brushed her teeth and hair, then pulled her clothes on. Carlitos checked her self out in the mirror, examining her outfit to make sure it looked well. Overall, she was satisfied with how she looked and exited the bathroom.

"Did you have a nice shower?" Claude asked, as she heard Carlitos exit the bathroom.

"It was alright," Carlitos responded as she walked into her bedroom, coming out a few moments later with a pair of shiny, new black heels and some balled up brown things.

"What's that?" Claude asked, pointing to the ball of brown in Carlitos' left hand.

"Oh, they're like socks for heels," Carlitos replied as she pulled said socks onto her feet before shoving her left foot into her heel, adjusting it with her pointer finger before she moved onto the next.

"Stand up," Claude said.

Carlitos complied and stood up, walking further into the living room before she stopped and turned around, watching as Claude examined her head-to-toe. While being judged by Claude, Carlitos pulled her hair back into a high bun and left her hands fall to her sides.

"Not bad," Claude nodded in approval. "You look good."

"Thanks," Carlitos muttered as walked away back into her bedroom to pull out two bags. One a regular dark blue tote bag and the other was just a black purse.

Carlitos walked back into the living room and set her bags down on the couch before walking over to the kitchen counter and grabbing a small pile of papers and binders. Claude watched as Carlitos sat back down on the couch next to her stuff and place her stack of shit on the coffee table.

"What's that?" Claude questioned.

"Which ones?"

"All of it."

"The two black, leather binders are my lesson plans and a daily planner," Carlitos mumbled as she picked them up and placed them first into her blue tote bag. "And the brown leather binder is just what I use to store my resources in, shit like the staff code of conduct handbook and a copy of the student's school rules and regulations handbook."

"The papers?"

"These?" Carlitos questioned, picking up an unkempt stack of papers.

"Yeah."

"Uh..." Carlitos trailed off as she ordered the stack of papers and placed them in the brown leather binder. "Those were just other resources for...I don't even remember, I wasn't really listening. Just things for teachers I assume."

"I see, and I also see that you pulled out the Michael Kors bag." Claude said as she watched Carlitos place the last of her stuff in her tote and move onto the said handbag.

"Yeah."

"About damn time, you haven't used it once since I gave it to you."

"That's because," Carlitos trailed off once again as she searched around the house for her stuff. "I haven't had a reason to use it before, now I do."

Carlitos tossed her wallet, cell phone, and house keys into the bag, not paying any attention to Claude as she set something down in front of her. Once Carlitos realized something had been placed right in front of her, she looked up to see that it was her wooden cigarette case along with some breath spray and a bottle of White Citrus perfume from Bath & Body Works.

"You didn't sneak packed cigarettes or filters into here did you?" Carlitos asked as she held up her cigarettes case.

"No, I did not." Claude responded, rolling her eyes as she flipped through the TV channels.

"Good," Carlitos said as she placed all of the stuff that was in front of her in her purse.

After Carlitos was finished packing everything, she stood up, pulling her bags onto her shoulder and walked over to the kitchen to grab her car keys.

"Okay Claude, I'm out. You know the rules, no parties or drugs while I'm out," Carlitos said as she walked over to the front door, opening it.

"Yeah, yeah, just go. I've been waiting forever to masturbate in peace," Claude retorted as Carlitos walked out of the door.

Carlitos did not live that far from where she was currently employed, but it certainly was not a short enough distance to walk, especially in heels. Carlitos walked down the steep steps of the apartment and towards her car parked under the awning. Her thumb pressed the unlock button on the key pad belonging to her car as she neared.

Carlitos opened her car door, threw her stuff in the passenger seat and hopped in, closing the door behind her and sticking her keys into the ignition before fastening her seatbelt turning the car on. After a few moments, she threw the car into reverse and peeled out, in a hurry to just get the day started and moving.

* * *

Carlitos arrived at the school and parked in the school parking lot in the back. After turning the car off and pulling her keys out of the ignition, she grabbed her shit and got out, locking the car behind her with the key pad as she walked away. As Carlitos crossed the rather big parking lot, she examined all of the people walking in the same direction. Most of the people appeared to be students, who identified themselves with the pink and gold uniforms for the guys and red for the ladies. Out of the bunch of students, however, Carlitos did make out a few teachers who were hurriedly making their way inside.

Carlitos walked through the doors of the prestigious Meiou Academy, examining once again what it looked like while she walked to her classroom. This is better than any school I've ever been to by a long shot, Carlitos thought as she walked down the hallway, maneuvering through the throng of students loitering in the hallways.

"Mrs. Escutia, it's a pleasure to see you again," Someone called out from behind Carlitos.

"Oh, Mrs. Arakawa. It's nice to see you again as well," Carlitos smiled, a seemingly genuine smile, at the principle.

"Oh, thank you. Well, I won't keep you for long, I know you have a class to tend to."

"Yes, thank you," Carlitos responded, smiling one last time at the principle before walking away. Carlitos did not have an early morning class, in fact, her first class didn't even start until nine a.m.., but she supposed that it didn't hurt to be there early. Not to mention, with the addition of other foreign languages besides Spanish, there wasn't really as much kids who signed up for this elective as Carlitos would've hoped, but oh well.

Carlitos arrived at her classroom in time to meet the maintenance man who was currently standing in front of her classroom, unlocking it.

"Excuse me," Carlitos started, catching the attention of the older man.

"Oh hello," he greeted. "You must be one of the new teachers, am I correct?"

"Indeed," Carlitos stated, extending her hand. "I am Miss Escutia."

"Nice to meet you Miss Escutia, I am Mr. Takanaka, the maintenance supervisor here at this school." Mr. Takanaka extended his hand as well, returning your handshake.

"Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Takanaka," Carlitos responded.

The older man smiled brightly as he went back to fiddling with his keys before clipping them back to his belt loops.

"I recently changed the locks to this room, we use a certain kind of lock to keep unused classrooms secured. Since you will be using this classroom, I arrived early today to change the locks. I actually just got here to unlock the door for you."

"I see," Carlitos said, trailing off as the man slid the door open for her and moved out of the way for her to go through. "Thank you."

"Not at all. Do you have a key to this room?" Mr. Takanaka asked.

"No, actually. I didn't really think much it until now."

"Well then here," Mr. Takanaka pulled a key off of his key ring and handed it to Carlitos, who accepted it. "You can use my spare key until you receive your own copy. Don't feel rushed to bring it back immediately, use it until you don't need it anymore."

"Alright," Carlitos responded, examining the key. "When I am ready to return it, where might I find you?"

"Oh the maintenance hall is on the bottom floor towards the back end of the school, if I am not there, I somewhere fixing something for someone so you can either leave it on my desk or leave it with one of the men there." Mr. Takanaka said.

"Alright, will do. Thank you, again Mr. Takanaka," Carlitos smiled.

"No need to thank me," the older man smiled. "Well, I will be on my way now. Good luck to you, now."

Carlitos watched as the man left the room, partially shutting the door behind him. The hallways were now clear, seeing as how the first bell signaling the start of the school day already rung. Carlitos took a quick look around her classroom, noting everything possible about it. The classroom was big, about thirty-to-forty desks were neatly lined up in rows. To the left side of Carlitos were three big bay windows with the blinds already pulled up and to the right cabinets and cubby boxes lined the right and back walls of the classroom.

Carlitos turned and walked over to her desk, which was situated in the front left (Carlitos right) of the classroom. She took her seat in a swivel chair and set her bags down on the floor beside her. Carlitos pulled all of her binders out of her bag put the brown leather binder in the top left drawer of her desk while leaving the other three out. Carlitos hadn't realized that she had brought a third leather binder, but she supposed it was alright, she could use it contain her student's homework assignments and tests.

Just as she was opening her top right drawer she heard her classroom door open, and a professionally dressed lady walked in with a bundle of papers in her hand.

"Miss Escutia?" The lady asked.

"Yes?" Carlitos replied.

The lady started walking towards Carlitos, pulling a couple of pages out from her bundle and placing them on the desk in front of her.

"I apologize on behalf of the administration office, there was a mix up with some of the rosters and so many new teachers either didn't get one or the ones they got were inaccurate."

"I see, and your name is?" Carlitos asked as she picked up the pages off of her desk.

"Oh, my apologies. I am Noriko Kisagawa, I work in the administration office," she hurriedly added, extending her hand as a gesture of kindness.

Carlitos stood up. "Nice to meet you Miss Kisagawa, I am Carlitos Escutia, one of the new Spanish teachers here."

"Oh, so you are new? I am sorry, I am in a bit of a hurry, but I bid you luck on your first day," Noriko exclaimed as she hurried out of the classroom, waving as she left.

"Hmmm," Carlitos hummed as she sat back down in her chair.

Carlitos set her roster inside one of the black leather binders and put it in the top right drawer of her desk for now. Returning to her other two binders, she opened up the bigger of the two to go over lesson plans and assignments for that day. Since today was the first day, Carlitos didn't really have anything planned except for an introduction to the class, a group discussion/assignment, and a homework assignment. Since Carlitos had been at the school a week before, she had already printed out the worksheets and homework assignments she was using for the month and stored them in the bottom right drawer of her desk.

Carlitos closed her binder with the lesson plans and put it back in her desk on top of the other one she had stored in there as well. The pulled the last binder she had towards her and opened it up, revealing a daily planner. On the date that was today, she wrote down when the homework assignment was administered and to which periods. Carlitos only has five classes each day to teach, which was fine with her, it's more time she has to grade assignments. On the date that is tomorrow, Carlitos wrote down that the homework was due and by which periods, leaving more than enough space to add homework from tomorrows lesson plan.

After writing this, Carlitos put her binder away and pulled out the one which held the roster and set it on her desk in front of her as well the group/class assignment that was to be due in class today. After that, she proceeded to roll up her blue tote bag and place it in the bottom left drawer of her desk along with her purse, but not before rummaging through it to find her cell phone and-

"I've been looking all over for these," Carlitos mumbled as she pulled out a black case that held her reading glasses.

Carlitos pushed her drawer shut with her foot as she proceeded to open her case, only to have a rolled up note pop out at her. She picked up the note, which had rolled off her clothes and onto the floor, and read it.

Keep track of your shit

\- Claude 3

Carlitos rolled her eyes and crumbled the note in her hand and tossed it into the trash can beside her desk. She looked down and pulled a pair of thin, black reading glasses out of the case and placed them on her desk, tossing her case into the bottom drawer with her bags. Afterwards, Carlitos put her reading glasses on and picked up her cell phone, flipping it open and texting Claude, in which a response back was almost immediate.

Carlitos checked her message from Claude before looking at the clock above the door of her classroom. She definitely had some time to kill.

* * *

Carlitos stood at the entrance of her classroom, getting all of the students who came in. First period, for many students, ended two minutes ago, and so far Carlitos had a few students in her classroom, but she knew more were to come as the five minute break inbetween classes came to an end. Carlitos smiled at the kids who greeted her, so far, these kids were quite pleasant, but that doesn't mean that as more time passes, they won't become unruly. Carlitos looked down at her watch to check the time. One more minute, she thought as she looked up.

Carlitos eyebrows furrowed slightly at the sight of a young man with stunning red hair walked towards her. His steps were graceful and his demeanor poised. Carlitos made eye contact with the boy, his emerald green eyes were absorbing, it was almost like looking into a pool of liquid emerald. Carlitos changed her facial expression to that of a smile as she watched the young man walk towards her classroom. Her ears perked up as she heard the conversations in the hall.

"That's Shuichi Minamino!"

"Wow, he's even more beautiful in person!"

"I'm so jealous!"

A smallest of smirks spread across Carlitos face as she realized she was working with a popular boy within the Meiou community. Now that she thought about it, she had heard quite a few other teacher here mention his name as well, during the new teacher 'orientation' and today.

"Good morning," The boy, Shuichi, spoke as he walked up to you.

"Good morning," Carlitos started, looking down at her watch. "You made it just on time, take a seat anywhere."

The boy nodded as he entered the classroom and as he did so, Carlitos heard a few gasps from the female population. She fought back a chuckle as she slid her classroom door closed and proceeded to the front of the classroom.

"Buenos Dias everybody," Carlitos started, catching the attention of the class as she waked over to her desk and leaned against it. "Does anybody care to guess what that means?"

At first no one in the class raised their hands, and Carlitos inwardly sighed, that is, until she saw a hand shoot up into the air.

"Yes, you, what is your name?" Carlitos said, choosing the girl who had raised her hand.

"My name is Sachui Mikoto Miss." The girl replied softly.

"Very well, Miss Sachui. So what do you think buenos dias meant?" Carlitos asked.

"Um..." the girl looked down and blushed lightly, seeing as how all eyes are on her. "Good morning?"

"Correct," Carlitos said, standing up from her leaning position on the desk. "Everybody remember it, let me hear everyone in the class say it."

Carlitos stood at the front of the room, listening to the kids utter the words 'buenos dias' over and over again until they got it right.

"Very good," Carlitos stopped the class. "From today on, any one of you who enter my class is to say buenos dias instead of good morning, which you really should be doing even without me telling you because this is a Spanish class."

Carlitos walked over to the chalk board at the front of the class and wrote down the word buenos dias then good morning next to it. Underneath buenos dias she wrote 'profesora/profesor'.

"Now does anyone want to guess what that means?" Carlitos asked as she stepped away from the chalk board to let everyone see.

"Yes," Carlitos called on a hand that shot up. "Your name?"

"Yoshihiro Tsubato Miss."

"Mister Yoshihiro, what do you think profesora y profesor mean?" Carlitos asked?

"Teacher?" Yoshihiro answered questioningly.

"Correct," Carlitos stated. "Can you guess the differences between the two?"

"One is for a girl and the other for a boy?" Yoshihiro questioned.

Carlitos nodded her head as she walked over to the chalk board. "As Mister Yoshihiro just said, one is for a girl and the other for a boy. In Spanish, get your notebooks out kids and write this down," Carlitos said, waiting for everyone to pull out their notebooks. As she did so, her eye couldn't help but linger on the form of the red head sitting all the way in the back. Snapping out of it, Carlitos returned to her speech.

"As I was saying," Carlitos cleared her throat. "In Spanish, you will encounter words like these, where one is used for a man and the other for a woman. A way to distinguish between the two is to remember that most masculine nouns end in o, for example; el cartero, the mailman, el nino, the boy, el tio, the uncle, and so on so forth. Not all masculine nouns will end in o, but that is a topic we will save for later down the road. Moving on to the women, same thing here, most feminine nouns will end in a, for example; la hija, the daughter, la enfermera, the nurse, and la profesora, the teacher, and so on so forth. Does everybody have this written down? If not, let me know, this is important."

Carlitos waited for everyone to write the information she just said down. Once she knew everyone was done she continued on.

"So, as I was saying," Carlitos grabbed a yard stick laying in the corner of the room and use it to point at the chalk board without being in the way. "Profesora, a teacher who is a woman, profesor, a teacher who is a man. Profesora, woman, profesor, man. Copy this down too."

Carlitos waited a second before continuing. "This brings me back to the start of class. I remember telling you kids that you said buenos dias when you come in in this mornings, well lets change that."

Carlitos walked back to the chalk board and erased the words she has previously written, earning a disappointed sigh from one of the students she guessed was still trying to copy it down.

"Whoever made that noise, you had the chance to write down this information when I was telling it to you," Carlitos turned slightly to face the class. "So I expect you to know this whether you copied it down or not...and I will know who you are."

Turning back to the chalk board, Carlitos proceeded to write again before stepping away from it. "Going back to what I just said," Carlitos pointed her yardstick at the board. "Using everything we just learned, I expect every student in this class to greet me with this phrase when they come in the door."

Carlitos paused as she looked over all of the students, weeding out who was really paying attention and who was not.

"This phrase says," Carlitos started again. "Buenos dias Profesora blank. Now in the blank goes my name."

Carlitos returned to the board, writing her name in large letters across the board so everyone can see.

"Ms. Escutia," Carlitos stated. "Now, I don't expect any of you to perfect the way of saying any of any of the things I have taught you thus far, but if you are going to perfect one thing, make it my name. My name is Ms. Escutia. Now going back, When each and everyone of you enter my class tomorrow, you great me at the door with 'buenos dias Profesora Escutia'. Now I really don't care in which order you say it, it can buenos dias Profesora Escutia or Profesora Escutia, buenos dias! Which means the same thing just backwards. Any questions?"

The class was silent after she asked that, which didn't bother Carlitos one bit.

"Okay then, I guess not." Carlitos mumbled as she walked over to her desk and pulled out a mountainous stack of packets to pass out to every one. Carlitos walked over to the first person in each row and counted the number of people behind that person. Carlitos laid a big stack of papers on the desk of the first person in each row.

"Take one and pass the rest back, if there are any extras, let me know." Carlitos announced to the class as she watched them pass the packets back. Once everyone had a packet and she was sure there were no extras, she started to speak again.

"Now, seeing how I never went to school in this country, I am not sure if you have seen anything like this before. This, where I am from, is called a Syllabus, its a packet with, usually, a description and information about the course you are taking. So, using this class as an example; this packet will provide a description about this course, list fundamental and and key concepts you should know by the end of this course, it will provide you with the minimum grade point average needed to pass my class, there is a chart in there that will also reference what your percentage grade means, there is another chart that lists the type of assignment and how much of your grade they are worth, this packet also explains my classroom rules and expectations, and information on which days I give tests and which I wont, all for the exception of pop quizzes, hence the name."

Carlitos looked around the room to see the students flipping through the pages of their Syllabus as well as listening to her.

"Okay, I will give everyone a chance to read or skim over the pages, whichever you prefer. In fifteen minutes, I will stop you and we will cover this as a class, afterwards, I have a fun little activity planned to help us get to know each other and our classmates. Also, while you all are reading I am going to take attendance, when I call out your name say 'presente', it doesn't need to be perfect. You may begin now."

Carlitos walked back over to her desk and set her copy of the syllabus aside while opening up her black leather binder and grabbing the pen she stored in it. Adjusting the roster so that she was able to fully see it, she started to call out the names of her students.

"Asuki, Chio?"

"Presente."

"Akiko, Yumi?"

"Presente."

"Fujiwara, Deikiko?"

"Presente."

"Fujihara, Sanchi?"

"Presente."

Carlitos continue to take role call, checking the names off as she proceeded down the list.

"Minamino, Shuichi?"

"Presente."

Carlitos looked up for a brief second, meeting his emerald gaze. The way he said it sounded so natural, almost perfect. Carlitos shook herself out of whatever daze she was in and continued to take role call. Once finished, she closed her black binder and put it away in her desk. She still had quite a few minutes before their time was up, so leaning back in her chair, Carlitos slipped her phone out of her pocket and began texting Claude discreetly.

* * *

Carlitos watched as her students packed their belongings, chatting amongst each other as they exited the class, turning in their activity sheets by the door in one of three black baskets as they did so. Carlitos watched the red head in particular as she exited the classroom. He was silent, he also didn't walk amongst his classmates or chat with any of them on his way out.

Carlitos sighed and shrugged, running her hand through her hair, pushing back all of the strands that had become loose during the got up from her seat at the desk and walked over to the basket, picking up the stack of papers after everyone exited the room and walked back to her desk, pulling out her black binder with the rosters for all of her classes and placed the papers neatly inside of it before taking out the roster for her next period.


	3. Chapter 2

Carlitos ate her lunch silently while she looked over some of the classwork her students turned in, reading their answers and responses to the questions. So far it's only been ten minutes into an otherwise thirty minute lunch period. Carlitos had made her way to her desk in the teacher's lounge. Carlitos had learned during the meeting new teachers had to attend, that students stay in one classroom for subjects such as science, math, reading, writing, and things of that sort while the teachers were the ones to actually interchange between classrooms. It was only for electives that students left their classes to attend others.

Carlitos had a feeling that because of how the teachers did not have a steady place to work outside of the classroom, they placed desks in the teachers lounge. Then again, she could be wrong, but she felt that was the reason.

"On your lunch break?"

"Yeah," Carlitos responded placing her arm on the top of the swivel chair and twisting around to see Noriko standing right behind her with her lunch.

"How is your first day going so far?" Noriko asked, taking a couple of steps so that she was beside Carlitos.

"So far so good," Carlitos responded, noticing how awkward Noriko was standing. "Don't be a stranger, pull up a chair and sit down."

Carlitos scooted over a little bit to give Noriko room to sit beside her. She watched as Noriko took a chair from another unoccupied desk and pushed it over to her. She sat down and set her lunch on the desk.

"Thank you," Noriko finally said once she was settled. Carlitos waved her hand, as if dismissing it.

"No need to thank me."

"So Spanish, huh? I have to say, in the year that I've been working here, I've heard kids say they've wanted to learn German, French, English, and even Chinese and a few more, but I rarely hear Spanish." Noriko spoke as she opened her bento box.

"Yeah, well I'm sure not many here aspire to go to Mexico, Spain probably, but not Mexico." Carlitos responded, tapping her pen against the desk as she started scanning another page.

"Well, to tell the truth, the thought has never crossed my mind," Noriko said, putting her chopstick down and covering her mouth as she ate. "Spain I would love to go to."

"It's beautiful," Carlitos replied. "I haven't been to any of the big cities, just the smaller towns."

"I see. So I've been wondering, is there any difference between Spanish from Mexico and Spanish from Spain?"

"Besides the slang, not much in my opinion. People from the two countries can converse, but they might find themselves rewording or finding alternate ways to say or explain things. Some words and phrases from Mexico can mean completely different things in Spain and vice versa."

"Oh, okay. So can you speak both?"

"Yeah, I can," Carlitos said, flipping through another students page.

Noriko became silent and Carlitos sense a bit of awkwardness radiating from her, as though she wanted to talk but had no idea how to proceed. Carlitos took off her reading glasses and placed them on her shirt while she put her papers away and pulled her lunch closer to her.

"So how has your day been?" Carlitos asked.

Noriko set down her chopsticks and swallowed her food before responding. "Not too bad."

"I take it wasn't perfect."

"Never is," Noriko whispered, looking around making sure no one heard her.

Carlitos raised her eyebrow in question. "May I ask why?"

"When you constantly have your boss breathing down your neck and your coworkers riding your ass," Noriko trailed off, eating some of her food before continuing. "It irritates you. I can't even piss in peace."

Carlitos noticed the change in Noriko's demeanor, and her language, and the fact that she was now whispering.

"That bad?" Carlitos asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"You're new," Noriko whispered. "Most new people here think they just check up on you to see how you're doing. Then they realize that it's like this twenty-four seven."

"I see."

"Most of the people who work at and attend this school are well off. They're nice but at the same time pretty douchey. A lot of the students here, especially the female population are just..." Noriko trailed off and shook her head, still whispering. "They're a bunch of stuck of brats."

Carlitos took a bite from her lunch and side-eyed her, wondering why exactly she was sharing this information with her. Considering that fact that she barely even knew here, she didn't know if Carlitos was going to go to tell someone or not, which she won't but still.

"You must have a lot of confidence in me to share this kind of information," Carlitos responded lowly, just barely audible enough for Noriko to hear her.

"You don't seem like a lot of the people here, I knew that from when I met you earlier. I doubt you'll tell on me."

Carlitos laughed lightly. "You can you tell?"

"You don't talk or act like the people here. You seem more relaxed and...laid back, more easy going."

"I see..." Carlitos trailed off. "I take it you didn't grow up rich?"

"Quite the opposite," Noriko said, her voice raised back to a normal octave. "I grew up so broke that even the r..."

Noriko paused as a nearby teacher turned to look at her, Carlitos could tell that he was eavesdropping on the conversation. After the guy realized that both girls were staring at him, he turned around and resumed what he was doing. Carlitos and Noriko shared a look.

"Well, I'm going to get back to work before my big mouth gets me in any more trouble," Noriko said, her voice low while doing so.

"I will do the same," Carlitos responded gathering her things before pulling her bags on her shoulder.

"Alright then," Noriko started. "I'll see you around."

Carlitos nodded in response and silently trailed Noriko out of the lounge and made her way back to her classroom. The halls were semi-crowded with kids hanging out with each other on their lunch break. In fact, the chatter from these kids were loud enough to almost drown out the sound of Carlitos' heels.

Once back in the classroom, Carlitos made her way to her desk and began to prepare for the next class to come through the door. So far, the day was alright, nothing major, Carlitos really had nothing to complain about except the few kids in some of her classes who wanted to be funny but were in fact disruptive. Carlitos leaned back in her chair and pulled her phone out and began to respond to the unread text message from Claude.

* * *

The sounds of Carlitos' heels rang loudly through the deserted halls of the school. It has been an hour since class ended and most of the kids were either attending after school clubs or on a sports team. Either way, it left her classroom eerily quite. Carlitos rounded a corner and nearly ran into the red headed Shuichi Minamino, if it wasn't for her taking a quick step back, she would have.

"That was a close one wasn't it?" Carlitos said light-heartedly.

"Indeed it was," Shuichi responded, a friendly smile on his face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Carlitos responded.

Carlitos smiled, her eyes thoroughly scanning the red headed boy. She couldn't shake this odd feeling she felt when he was around, she knew something was off about him but she couldn't place her finger on it. Carlitos would say that she doesn't care to find out, and that it was just another one of her students, but in actuality she does care, she wants to find out. This boy had her interest piqued and she was a rather nosey person. Nothing slips past her.

"I don't recall any extracurricular activities being hosted in this hall," Carlitos started, pausing to give the boy leeway to respond.

"I am meeting with one of my teachers," Shuichi said, his voice soft and sweet.

"I see." Carlitos moved to the side allowing him space to walk past her. "I won't keep you then."

"Nos vemos manana, Profesora Escutia," Shuichi said as he walked past.

"Adios," Carlitos responded, a smirk forming on her lips. Carlitos walked away, thinking about Shuichi the whole walk from her classroom to her car.

* * *

"She's back!" Claude cheered unenthusiastically from the couch as Carlitos walked through the door.

"I'm back," Carlitos cheered unenthusiastically as well as she closed the door behind her. "Did you miss me?"

"Totally," Claude responded, flipping through the TV channels. "How was your day?"

Carlitos walked past Claude and into her room, placing her bags next to her bed as she kicked her heels off and placed them in her closet before stripping out of her clothes and changing into a big t-shirt, some basketball shorts, and a pair of socks.

"It was alright," Carlitos said as she walked out of her room and into the living room. "For the most part it was boring."

"Ah, so not to bad?" Claude asked, looking up at her.

"No. Do you have cigarettes rolled?" Carlitos asked, looking down at Claude.

"On the plate," Claude responded, standing up from her seat on the couch and walking over to the counter to get the cigarettes as Carlitos went on the balcony.

Carlitos sat down in the seat next to the table holding the ashtray and took her cigarette from Claude as she walked out. Carlitos lit her cigarette and inhaled.

"Did you even smoke the cigarettes I rolled for you?" Claude asked as she lit her own cigarette and leaned against the balcony.

"Oh shit," Carlitos said, smoking coming out of her mouth with each word she said. "I forgot I even had them."

"Well, now you got some for tomorrow," Claude said.

"Yeah."

Carlitos looked around the balcony before her eyes settled on the bong placed underneath the the small, plastic table. She looked up and locked gazes with Claude before pointing at the bong with the two fingers holding her cigarette.

"Did you smoke?"

"Yep," Claude smiled.

"We're out of weed," Carlitos said.

"No we're not," Claude pulled out a small clear, plastic bag with three blunts inside and tossed it at Carlitos.

Carlitos caught the bag and examined it before placing it on the table beside her and looking back up at Claude with a questioning gaze.

"I got it from some kid I was smoking with at the park."

"Well," Carlitos said. "Lets break it up and smoke a bowl."

"Get it started, I'll go roll another cigarette," Claude said as she put her out in the ashtray and went in.

Carlitos put her own cigarette out and opened the clear bag with the blunts and pulled one out before she turned her chair to face the table. Pushing the ashtray to the edge of the small table, she placed the clear bag down next to it and proceeded to tear the wrap off of the blunt. Carlitos grabbed the bowl from the bong and loaded the weed in it, packing it lightly before putting the bowl back into the bong and picked it up, placing her mouth over the opening and lighting the contents in the bowl.

Carlitos smoked the whole bowl in one hit and set the bong down, blowing out the smoke and coughing as Claude walked through the door. Carlitos proceeded to break down the other two blunts and packed Claude a bowl before handing the bong to her, getting her cigarette from her in the process. Carlitos lit her cigarette and watched as Claude lit the weed and took a hit, clearing just about the whole bowl. Claude lit her lighter and sucked the rest through.

Carlitos took another drag from her cigarette and watched as Claude set the bong back underneath the plastic table and lit her own cigarette, taking a huge drag off of it.

"How do you feel?" Claude asked, turning her head to look below their balcony and at the street.

"I feel..." Carlitos paused for a moment, thinking. "Not to bad. The weed isn't the best though."

"No, definitely not. It's just something to skate by," Claude responded.

"Yeah," Carlitos took a couple more drags off of her cigarette and put it out. "I am going to go play the video game."

Carlitos walked up to the sliding glass door and opened it, walking through and turning around.

"You," Carlitos pointed at Claude. "Are going to wash all of your dishes and clean up your mess in the living room."

Claude nodded and Carlitos shut the door behind her and made her way over to the couch and sat down, grabbing the Xbox controller from the coffee table in the process and turning it on. Claude came in not to long after and cleaned up her mess before sitting down on the couch next to Carlitos, laying her head back to stare at the ceiling.

"What are you playing?"

Carlitos turned her head to face Claude and moved her left arm to that it was rest right behind her head. "Halo probably."

Claude nodded and grabbed the spare controller from the coffee table and turned it on.

"Well then let's play," Claude said.

Carlitos nodded. "Alright."


	4. Chapter 3

**_Alright, the next two chapters might come off a poorly written and are more than likely going to be re-edited at a later point in time. On the bright side, however, the next chapter Kurama makes his entrance, so hang tight. - Kukuyoi_**

* * *

Carlitos sighed as she sat at her desk, fingers strumming against the metal desk top as she did so. It has been just about a week since the school year started. It was now Friday, the last day of the school week and she found herself doing the same thing she did every other morning this past week. Since Carlitos was assigned a free period in the morning, she usually sat around in her classroom waiting for her first class of the day to start. This morning was no different.

Carlitos, out of boredom, pulled her first period roster towards her from the corner of her desk and began to silently skim over it, memorizing each name printed on it. Since she was not native to Japan, or the language, the school had decided it would be a good idea to print out an extra roster in English just incase. Carlitos' eyes skimmed over the named printed out on the page, reading them silently to herself until she got to the one name that intrigued her the most.

Minamino, Shuichi

Carlitos felt the smile that threatened to tug the corners of her lips up and sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and one arm over her chest at the other fiddled with the pen she had set on top of her roster. The name did not intrigue her only because of his 'god-like looks' as some of the girls there would put it, but also because she knew there was more to him than everyone talked about or assumed. Just listening to the chatter around the school about him, she's heard that not only is he 'so sexy' and 'drop-dead gorgeous', but he is also intelligent, responsible, friendly, and athletic. Carlitos asked some of the teachers around the school about him too, she got multiple responses but the majority of them said something along the lines of, "Shuichi Minamino? Oh yes, he is a great student, not only is he intelligent, he is one of the smartest kids in school along side Yu Kaito. He has a four-point-o grade point average, turns in all of his school work on time and is very helpful. It's a wonder he doesn't have many friends."

Carlitos narrowed her eyes and started to grind her pen against the walls of her teeth. No matter how many people said those things about Shuichi, she refused to believe all of it is true, judging from his actions in class. If Shuichi cared so much about school and his grades, why would he miss three days of school on the first week of school? Not only that but she found it a bit far-fetched so say that the boy had so friends. Carlitos just couldn't believe it.

Carlitos turned her gaze from the roster to the clock hanging just about her classroom door. She had eight minutes before her class started. Carlitos turned her eyes towards the classroom door, losing herself in though afterwards. She wondered if the red-headed boy would actually decide to come to class today. Carlitos found herself tensing up at the thought. On top of everything she already thought about him, she couldn't help but feel he was a little off. When he walked past her on the first day, she felt her body tense up. He exuded a strange vibe, the kind of vibe that made her feel like something was off...like he wasn't who he said he was.

The alarm on her watch tore her out of her thoughts as it started beeping, signaling the end of first period. Carlitos stood up from her chair and straightened her blouse and skirt out. Today she had decided to wear a very, very light, almost white, pink blouse and a beige latex pencil skirt with beige stiletto heels. It was an outfit Claude had picked out for her and she wasn't sure that it matched or even went with her skin tone, but oh well. Carlitos turned off her watch alarm and walked over to her classroom door and slid it open, standing right next to the door way outside of the classroom so that she could greet everyone who came in.

* * *

Carlitos stood at the front of her classroom eyes scanning over the kids as the began their tests. Carlitos had taken attendance, did a small review of concepts they had learned yesterday, and explained to them that they need to have their books from the book store by Monday. After she had done all of that, Carlitos administered a test, of which she got done explaining the directions only a few moments ago.

Carlitos sauntered over to her desk and took a seat in her swivel chair. It was eerily quite, she was surprised that all of the kids are even taking the test instead of goofing off. She had discovered, in the past week, the kids who were the 'class clowns' so to speak. Carlitos leaned forward and rested both elbows on top her desk while clasping both hands together so that she would lean her head on them and observe the classroom. Her eyes scanned the room slowly, watching each and every kids for signs of cheating, talking, passing notes, texting and everything else.

And pulling cheat sheets out of their vaginas, Carlitos thought, adding to the list of things she was watching for. Carlitos closed her eyes and smiled slightly at the thought. When she was getting her PH.D in psychology she actually went to class with a girl who, one time, pulled a cheat sheet out of her cooch on a testing day. Carlitos thought it was hilarious, but the teacher didn't think so.

Carlitos opened her eyes and returned to staring at all of the kids, her eyes resting on bright red hair. Shuichi Minamino had decided, afterall, to attend school today. For some reason, when Carlitos saw him walking towards her in the hall, she got excited and tense at the same time. Carlitos suddenly noticed that she was looking into emerald green orbs instead of bright red hair. Breaking contact with his eyes, she slowly moved her eyes down, examining his features. The boy wore a small smirk that exuded mischief and she looked up just in time to see his eyes narrow slightly.

Carlitos began to smirk herself, her smirk turning into a twisted smile, her eyelids lowered and she just started into his eyes. Carlitos was never the type to back out of a staring contest, even if she started it. Shuichi was the first to break away and go back to his test, tapping his pencil lightly against the wooden desktop. Carlitos couldn't help but smirk and continue staring around the rest of the room

"I see you Mr. Yoshihiro, put it away." Carlitos spoke, her voice breaking the silence in the room and some of the kids turned to stare.

Yoshihiro turned a bit red in the face as he slid his cell phone back into his pocket, his face a bit disgruntled looking, obviously because he got caught. Once his phone was back in his pocket he went back to his test, not without the interruption of Carlitos however.

"Mr. Yoshihiro, I believe you know my classroom policy. What happens when I catch students on their phones?"

The class then looked at Yoshihiro again as he turned red, once again.

"I you automatically fail me because use of a cell phone can be assumed as cheating because you can look up the answers, text and receive texts from friends with the answers, take pictures of my test and send it to a friends and...yeah."

Carlitos nodded before beckoning Yoshihiro to her desk with her index finger. Yoshihiro got up reluctantly and walked over to her desk, placing his test on her desk and standing awkwardly in front of her. Carlitos opened her drawer and pulled out a big black marker and pulling the top off, marking his test with a big, bold F before handing it back to him. Carlitos put her black marker away and tapped the back of the paper as she got ready to speak.

"Go home, show that to your parents and explain to them why you got an F. You may go sit down."

Carlitos watched as Yoshihiro walked back to his seat, almost dejectedly. Shaking her head, she turned her gaze back to the red head, who was focusing diligently on his test. Carlitos then looked at the clock hanging above the door, silently counting the minutes until class ended.

* * *

"Hey," Noriko said, coming through the door on the roof.

"Hey," Carlitos responded, watching as Noriko locked the door of the roof with her keys the maintenance man gave her and walked over to her.

Noriko settled down beside her on the ground and crossed her legs together before setting her bento box down on her lap and opening it. With her chopsticks, Noriko lifted a piece of salmon sushi and took a bite out of it. Carlitos watched her as she chewed and swallowed it. Noriko eventually shifted her gaze to land on Carlitos, only to see her staring at her with intense eyes.

"What?" Noriko asked, covering her hand with her mouth as she took another bite out of her sushi.

"I thought some people ate sushi with their fingers," Carlitos asked.

"Some do," Noriko swallowed. "Some use chopsticks, others use their fingers. I use chopsticks because I don't like touching fish."

"You touch sushi when you make it."

"I either buy it premade or use gloves when I do it at home."

"I see," Carlitos said, drifting off. "How has your day been?"

"Not too bad, I guess. Not the best either, though. How about yours?" Noriko responded.

"It was alright. That red-headed boy, Shuichi Minamino, finally showed up today after not coming for three days." Carlitos replied.

"Ah, Shuichi Minamino..." Noriko trailed off and looked as though she was staring into space. Carlitos just stared at her as she waited for her to snap out of her train of thought.

"Oh," Noriko, jumped, laughing lightly at herself. "I'm sorry, uh what was I saying? Oh, Shuichi Minamino. I was going to say that he's really popular around here."

"Yeah," Carlitos agreed. "He doesn't show up much though."

"No. I've been working here since the beginning of the last school year. I can honestly say that considering how much school he has missed, I'm surprised he even managed to keep up on his school work and graduate. He missed a lot of school, and I mean a lot." Noriko said as she sat up more, pulling her knee up to her chest and leaving the other one stretched.

"Is that so?" Carlitos asked, leaning her head back against the concrete wall.

"Yeah," Noriko picked up another piece of sushi with her chopsticks, her right arm wrapping around her right knee in order to reach her bento box. "I work as an assistant to the principle but sometimes I'm needed in the front office so I'll work things like attendance and records. The days I do work attendance I noticed he leaves school a lot, he says it's for personal reasons or family emergencies."

"Hmm," Carlitos hummed, losing herself in thought.

"Hey," Noriko said, pulling Carlitos out of her thoughts and to her. "This is weird, but, I've only know you for a week, but your so comfortable to talk with I feel like I've known your for years."

Carlitos smiled softly. "I can say the exact opposite."

Noriko's smile fell and she had this...dejected look on her face.

"I see." Noriko uttered.

"Yeah, you're so open and talkative with me on such...private matters I feel like I've known you for years." Carlitos responded.

Noriko's face turned into shock as she slowly turned her head to stare at Carlitos. What was said was a little bit of a lie on Carlitos part. Carlitos found it rare to meet people who would open up to her without trying on her part. Because of that, Carlitos felt comfortable around Noriko, but she was in no way close friends with her. One thing Carlitos has learned over the years is that to never assume someone is close friend no matter how much you click with them in any short amount of time. Carlitos only had one true friend, and it was Claude, everyone else came and went, only a few stayed and they were just...friends, they didn't have a close relationship with her like Claude did.

"Really?" Noriko responded as if in shock.

Carlitos nodded. Noriko looked down almost as if she was excited.

"Sorry, I...can be excited when I meet new people. I don't make friends very well," Noriko confessed, laughing a little bit at herself.

"I can relate," Carlitos responded, pulling her purse towards her side and pulling out one of the cigarettes Claude had rolled for her. "You don't mind if I smoke do you?"

Noriko waved her hand, as if to don't worry about it. Turning to look at Carlitos, Noriko jumped when she realized Carlitos had her hand in front of her, holding a cigarette.

"You want one?" Carlitos asked, her voice a bit muffled from holding her own cigarette between her lips.

Noriko reached up slowly to grab it, pulling it from Carlitos fingers and putting the cigarette between her lips.

"You got a light?"

"Yeah," Carlitos lifted her arm to light the cigarette hanging from her lips before tossing it to Noriko, who caught it and lit her own, extending her arm with Carlitos lighter towards her. Carlitos grabbed it and put it in her blouse pocket.

"I didn't know you smoke," Noriko said after a moment, holding her cigarette between her fingers and examining it as she blew out the smoke.

"I do," Carlitos responded. "Most people say that smokers reek of smoke, their teeth are always yellow, and their breath smells, but most people I meet don't even know that I am a heavy smoker."

"Yeah," Noriko said. "I used to be a heavy smoker, I quit about four years ago."

"Why?" Carlitos asked.

"Four years ago I was seventeen and living with my crack head mother. That was when I was a really, really heavy smoker. I was always sick, it wasn't even the cigarettes that was getting to me. My mother house was so filthy and nasty and reeked of dog and cat piss and shit," Noriko took a drag from her cigarette. "I tried to keep up on it but every time I came home the house was trashed all over again. I was so sick from the house itself, eventually I figured the smoking wasn't helping I quit."

"Yeah," Carlitos started. "I know a couple of people who live like that."

"Yeah, I've since moved out, I just haven't bothered to buy cigarettes. Every once in a while I do but other than that, no. Although, since I've been working here I've been tempted to take up smoking again," Noriko laughed half-heartedly.

Carlitos smiled and took a rather long drag off of her cigarette and flicked her ash off onto the ground around the corner of the wall she was leaning on. The chatter between Noriko and Carlitos went quiet for a while and they both smoked in silence.

"Do you play video games?" Noriko asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Carlitos responded. "Do you?"

"I do."

"What games do you like?" Carlitos asked.

"I play anything, but I have an undying love for shooters."

"You play Halo?"

"Yeah."

"All of them?"

"Except five."

"Fallout?"

"Yes."

"Ninja Gaiden?"

Carlitos turned her head to see Noriko just staring at her, to which she stared back.

"Yes."

"Gta?"

"Yup."

Carlitos paused.

"I think I'm starting to like you even more," Carlitos took a drag of her cigarette with a smile on her face. Noriko giggled.

"Thanks."

"Yup."

"Is it okay if I just call you Carlitos?" Noriko asked.

"Why would you call me by anything else?"

"In Japan it's considered rude to call someone your are unfamiliar with by their first name."

"I'm not from Japan, it doesn't affect me," Carlitos said, smoke coming out of her mouth with each word she said.

"I am."

"Okay then," Carlitos started. "Call me Carlitos, Carlos, or whatever, and I'll call your Noriko."

Noriko smiled. "Okay then, Carlitos."

Carlitos nodded and took another drag off of her cigarette before putting it out and tossing it off of the roof. For a while it was silent between the two as they just looked up into the sky, watching the birds and the clouds.

"Ten minutes till the start of class," Noriko said, looking down at her cell phone clock.

Carlitos sighed and adjusted herself so that she was sitting up straight instead of slanted. Pulling her blue bag towards her, she shuffled through her folders to see all of the tests she had to grade and on top of that homework from the previous night she had to grade as well.

"It's a lot of grading, huh?" Noriko asked.

"Yeah, it's not that I can't do it, I'm just lazy, and on top of that, I still have a bunch of work I have to do outside of school."

"Yeah, you said something two or so days ago that your working on getting certified to practice here in Japan."

"Mhmm," Carlitos hummed.

"Why don't you just get a TA or something?"

"Teachers assistant?"

"Yeah, write something up to be put on the morning announcements, I'm sure someone will be willing to help."

"It's not a heavy workload, it's just a bunch of tedious things that I need to get done."

"That's what the extra help is there for."

"I'll think about it."

"Well you better think about it on your way back to class. It starts in five minutes." Noriko said, getting up.

Carlitos and Noriko gathered up all of their belongings and exited the roof, rushing to get back to their classroom and office duties. The whole time, Carlitos was thinking about the whole teachers assistant thing.

* * *

Carlitos opened to door only to be greeted with the pleasant smell of food being made. Walking in and shutting the door behind her, Carlitos sniffed the air and walked towards the kitchen so see that Claude was cooking. Claude looked up and nodded her head, silently saying 'what's up?'. Carlitos repeated the movement and set her blue tote bag on the kitchen table.

"Whacha makin'?" Carlitos asked.

"Edibles," Claude responded.

"Why?"

"My throat is raw and I want to get high," Claude responded, grabbing a circular pan with brownies in it and holding it up to Carlitos. "Want some?"

Carlitos examined the brownies before taking one from the pan and taking a big bite out of it, chewing it rather quickly and swallowing it.

"How-"

"It's not strong, but it'll give you a decent buzz," Claude said, cutting Carlitos off because she knew what she was going to say.

"Okay," Carlitos said, walking away to her room to change.

Carlitos re-emerged wearing gray sweat pants and a black hoodie with a picture and wording on the back, and some socks.

"How was your day?" Claude asked, stuffing a pan into the oven and closing it before leaning against it.

"It was alright," Carlitos responded, picking up another brownie. "Nothing special."

"I see."

"Yeah, one of my co-workers told me I should consider getting a TA." Carlitos said as she leaned against the kitchen counter directly across from Claude.

"Teachers assistant? Who told you that, that Noriko lady?"

"Yeah."

"Well if you want one then go for it. Maybe you can start getting home earlier and doing some of the things you need to get done for your psychology licensing."

"Yeah, I'll think about it." Carlitos said.

Claude walked over to the red plate on the counter and held up two cigarettes and a bag of weed.

"Ready to smoke?"

"Let's do this," Carlitos responded, clapping her hands together to get the chocolate brownie crumbs off and grabbing her cigarette from Claude.

Carlitos walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it, going through first. Claude came through after and the situated themselves in the two patio chairs that sat outside and lit their cigarettes and packed the bowl of the bong with some weed. Carlitos took the first hit, clearing the bowl in a single hit before passing it over to Claude to load her own bowl.


	5. Chapter 4

It has now been a couple of weeks since Carlitos started working at Meiou as a teacher. The more days that went by, the more grading it seem she found herself doing. It's not that she minded grading, it just that it cuts into a lot of her personal time and life, especially when kids did not want to turn in their work on time.

Carlitos found her self strumming her fingers against her desk. She had just arrived to school and had a good forty-to-fifty-five minutes left until her first class started. On her way in she saw Noriko and chatted a little bit before she had to get back to work. Carlitos looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. She looked down at the piece of paper in front of her and debated on if she wanted to turn it in. On a blank piece of college ruled paper, Carlitos has written a little announcement stating she could use a teachers assistant or even some volunteer after school help. It also stated that kids who choose to help out that are from her class, will also earn extra credit to boost their grades.

Carlitos examined what she had written and sighed, running a hand through her hair and leaning back into her seat. It was so early in the school year to be requesting help, although she noticed a lot of other teachers had already done the same thing. Fuck it, Carlitos thought and stood up, checking the clock hanging above the door. First period just started a minute ago, the morning announcements don't happen until ten-to-fifteen minutes after school starts to ensure that the teachers take attendance and all. Carlitos looked down and checked her outfit. Today she wore just a simple gray pencil skirt over a button-down shirt, which was tucked in, and a pink sweater vest over it. She also wore light panty hose, gray colored pumps, and her hair in a bun at the top of her head.

Once Carlitos knew she looked fine, she checked the clock once again and grabbed the piece of paper sitting in front of her, hurriedly rushing out of the room and down the hall. She had thirteen minutes to make it from the fourth floor of the building all the way to the first. Carlitos knew she would make it in time, she was just worried about being too loud in the halls with her heels, so she ended up speed walking and hopping the railing on some of the stairs to get down there faster.

Once Carlitos made it to the first floor, she slowed her walking and fixed her outfit to look professional and presentable. She changed her posture to that of a confident one and plastered a friendly smile onto her face just in time to turn the corner into the lobby and administration offices.

"May I help you, Ms. Escutia?" One of the ladies working in the front office asked.

"Yes, I want something to be announced on the morning announcements. Where do I go for that?" Carlitos responded sweetly.

"Oh, I'll take that if you will. I am on my way back there to hand something to the vice principle, I'll ensure that it gets there safely," The lady laughed lightly, extending her hand.

"Sure," Carlitos said, placing the folded paper in her hand to see her place it a top a stack of paperwork to be carried back.

"One moment," The lady said, walking towards the announcement room with the papers.

Once she disappeared around a corner and into a hallway, Carlitos made her way to one of the lobby seats and sat down, waiting for the lady to return. After a few minutes the lady returned and told Carlitos that she handed it over to the announcement crew. Carlitos nodded and got up, running her hands down the back of her legs to make sure her skirt goes down and nodded in thanks at the lady before sauntering back to her classroom.

Once Carlitos made it back into her classroom, she grabbed her phone and a cigarette and escaped up to the roof for a quick smoke break. Carlitos didn't see the harm in it, besides she had nothing else to do and you can't shelter kids forever.

* * *

"Hey, Carlitos," Noriko called as she walked into Carlitos' classroom.

Carlitos looked up from the pages on her desk to see Noriko walking over to her. The girl pulled up a chair and sat her lunch on the edge of Carlitos desk in order to give her some space to do whatever she's doing.

"What's up?" Carlitos asked, looking down at the work on her desk.

"Taking my lunch," Noriko said as she opened her bento box and pulled her chopsticks out of the little compartment on the side.

"Mmm," Carlitos responded.

"I heard your announcement this morning," Noriko said as she stuffed a piece of chicken in her mouth. "So you decided to take my advice afterall, hmm?"

Carlitos set her pen down on top of the papers and leaned back, crossing her legs and arms over her chest as she did so.

"Yeah," Carlitos started. "I figured there are other things I could do with my time aside from tedious tasks and grading."

"I figured," Noriko said, putting her chopsticks down for a moment and opening up her bottle of water. "I would do the same thing to be honest. Plus, you won't be lonely after school."

"I never am, considering you are usually hanging out with me on the days I stay," Carlitos replied.

"True," Noriko said.

"So you're also offering credit for kinds in your Spanish class that volunteer?"

"That's right. God knows some of those kids need it."

Noriko chuckled. "The life of a teacher I suppose."

Carlitos only smiled in return. "I'm going up to the roof to smoke."

"Okay," Noriko stood up, placing her chopsticks in her bento box before closing it and waiting for Carlitos to get some cigarettes.

Noriko watched as Carlitos locked her classroom door behind them before starting to walk up to the roof. Noriko trailed Carlitos the whole way and for the most part was silent. Once they got up to the roof, they exited and closed the door behind them.

"We have to stay on high alert. I didn't grab the keys from the maintenance man today." Noriko stated as she leaned her body against the door.

"Okay," Carlitos said as she handed her a cigarette and the lighter.

Carlitos watched as Noriko lit her cigarette and took a drag off of it, breathing deeply afterwards. Carlitos lit her own afterwards and took a drag, breathing deeply herself before exhaling. For a moment, the two girls leaned against the big metal door of the roof-top exit and smoked, enjoying the peace and quiet.

"What's today?" Noriko asked.

"Uh..." Carlitos trailed off, thinking. "Tuesday."

"I have Wednesday and Thursday off of work to handle some things. Want to come over for dinner or something?" Noriko asked.

"If my roommate can come, sure," Carlitos said.

Noriko waved her hand. "I don't care, bring her or him."

Carlitos nodded. "Alright then, I'm down."

"Cool," Noriko said as she flicked the ash off of her cigarette and took another hit. "Let me see your phone."

Carlitos pulled her phone out of her breast pocket underneath her vest and handed it to Noriko. Noriko double tapped the screen and the home screen popped up. From there Noriko went into contacts and entered her name and number as a contact. Once she was done she handed the phone back to Carlitos, of whom put it back into her pocket.

"Text me tonight or on Wednesday, I'll just text you when to come by," Noriko said, finishing off her cigarette and tossing it on to the ground, putting it out with her heel.

"Alright."

Carlitos took the final drag off of her cigarette and tossed it onto the ground as well, putting it out with her own heel before walking back to her classroom with Noriko. Once they were back into Carlitos' classroom, they shut the door behind them and proceeded to hangout for the rest of the lunch period. When the bell rang, Noriko gathered her belongings and bid Carlitos goodbye and ran back down to her office to get back to work. Carlitos on the other hand, stood by her door and greeted all of her students that walked in.

* * *

School was now over and Carlitos sat at her desk, grading all off her student's homework. Noriko had to leave work early today to tend to matters at home, on the other hand Carlitos was choosing to stay behind, she did not feel like taking her work home with her today so instead, she was going to finish it at school. In a situation like this, Carlitos would normally sit and grade in the teacher's lounge, but since she put out an announcement with her classroom number, she decided to hang back and see what the wind blows in.

Carlitos was so focused on grading assignments, she didn't even notice someone walk in. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat that she snapped out of it. Carlitos looked up from under her brow to see that the person standing in front of her was, indeed, Shuichi Minamino. A look of mild surprise crossed over her face as she put her pen down and leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and arms. Carlitos was well aware of the fact that her body had tensed up to the point of being nearly visible when she moved, and she silently cursed herself for being so deep in thought, she didn't catch him when he walked through the door.

"Why hello Mr. Minamino. Is there something I can help you with?" Carlitos asked, her voice letting off that she was intrigued.

"Yes, I heard your announcement this morning about wanting some extra help," Shuichi started, to which Carlitos raised her hand to stop him.

"I'm assuming your here to volunteer, I am also assuming that you want the extra credit that comes with it, no?"

Shuichi nodded. "Yes."

"I see," Carlitos pulled out one of her leather binders and flipped through it. In her binder that she uses to house her roster are pieces of paper and notes about every student in the class. After flipping through all of the paper, she finally pulled out two pages and set them on her desk and pushed her binder to the side.

Carlitos pulled her reading glasses out from her top right drawer and put them on as she leaned back into her chair. She picked up the two pages in front of her and examined them, reading each page before looking back up at the red-headed boy who was standing there patiently.

"So, Mr. Minamino, tell me why you want to volunteer to stay after school with me when you can barely manage to show up to any of my classes," Carlitos asked, her eyes sharp and intense as she looked up at the boy.

"Indeed, I have missed quite a few days. It has been...," Shuichi trailed off. "A rough start to the school year if you will. The whole reason I am here is to help boost my grade, Ms.-"

"Profesora," Carlitos corrected as she kept reading her papers.

"Profesora Escutia," Shuichi corrected himself, a small amused smile on his face.

Carlitos put the papers back into her binder and leaned back, crossing her legs and clasping her hands on top of them.

"The extra credit would boost your grade," Carlitos started. "We both know that you need it very much."

Carlitos paused, as if thinking of what to say next. She began nodding her head for a moment before looking back up at the boy, and smiling humorlessly.

"You may need the extra credit, but who is to say that you will show up? Let's see," Carlitos trailed off, calculating in her mind. "In a total of three, going on four, weeks of school, you have only attended seven of the fifteen days. That's just out of a regular school week, this school offers extracurricular that extend the school week to six or seven days for some students and students who need to catch up on credits."

Carlitos opened the leather binder sitting on the side of her desk and searched through it, pulling out a stack of assignments and dropping them in the desk in front of the red headed boy and tapping them with her right index finger.

"These are the assignments that you either turned in late, didn't turn in, or were sloppily or missing second parts."

Shuichi picked tugged the papers towards him with his left hand and sifted through them, eyes scanning over them quickly.

"I admit, I have turned in assignments late, but to which I provided a valid excuse for not attending," Shuichi responded.

"Yes, but since your...," Carlitos held her hand palm up and waved it around in a circle towards Shuichi. "Since it wasn't clear what your situation was, how was I supposed to know if you were faking or not, so I started marking your assignments late."

Shuichi lifted an eyebrow. "Isn't that against the staff's code of conduct?"

"If it was something truly pressing, someone would've called in and I would have been notified by the administration," Carlitos stated.

Shuichi looked back down at his papers, the emotion in his eyes turning unreadable. He stood there for a moment, seemingly thinking before he looked back up at Carlitos.

"You mentioned some assignments having second parts to them," Shuichi started, pausing long enough for Carlitos to respond.

"Yes. If you were here, you would have been able to complete them."

Shuichi had an almost exasperated look on his face as he stared at Carlitos, he seemed like he was ready to give up. Carlitos noticed this and sighed.

"Tell you what," Carlitos started. "If you redo and complete every single assignment in this stack with a minimum of a B and you volunteer after school with me every single day after school ends for a minimum of thirty minutes each day with little to no absences, I'll boost the extra credit you'll earn staying after school with me and retract your grade on these assignments and put them in as on time and complete."

Shuichi stared at her for a moment before a small smile came to his face and he nodded. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Good," Carlitos tapped the stack of papers. "Get to work."

Shuichi gathered up all of the papers and found a desk in the front row to sit at, searching in his bag for a pencil before getting started. Meanwhile, Carlitos stood up and walked over to the chalk board, grabbing the stick of white chalk and writing down on which assignments there was a second part and next to the assignments the instructions and page numbers require to be read before starting in the Spanish textbook.

Once Carlitos was done writing the assignments, she put the piece of chalk back down and walked back over to her desk and sat down, pushing her reading classes up until they sat on her head and went back to grading assignments. Carlitos only had a couple more to grade so it went by fairly quickly, once done she read over tomorrow's lesson plan. Carlitos was in the middle of conjuring up ideas in her head to make class more fun and interactive when a voice interrupted her.

"Profesora?" Shuichi said, his voice soft and friendly as well as, Carlitos noticed, melodic.

"Hmm?" Carlitos said, not looking up.

"I'm done."

Carlitos looked up to see Shuichi standing in front of her desk, the stack of previously failed assignments in his hand as well as pieces of college ruled paper.

"That was fast," Carlitos commented as she grabbed the papers from him and set them on top of her lesson plan. Carlitos pulled her reading glasses back down to sit in front of her eyes and grabbed her pen, beginning to grade Shuichi's assignments. Carlitos silently read his responses and answers, hovering the pen along each line, guiding her eyes. After a few moments of flipping and reading papers, she set them down and pushed her glasses up to sit on her head again.

"Well, well. You did good. You will now be entered into the grade book with a solid A instead of a C...minus," Carlitos stated, leaning back in her chair once again.

"The way you say it makes it seem like a bad thing."

"No, not a bad thing," Carlitos said, placing the papers in her leather binder. "But, you are now stuck with me for the rest of the school year."

Carlitos smirked at the wry smile that formed on the red headed boy's face. She could tell by his overall expression he was thinking something along the lines of 'what did I get myself into' and 'oh yay'. Carlitos looked down at her watch and checked the time, almost twenty minutes had passed since the boy first walked into her classroom.

"Well, Mr. Minamino, you only have to keep me company for ten more minutes. You can go take a seat," Carlitos said.

"There is nothing else you need taken care of?" Shuichi asked.

"I didn't expect anyone to drop by after class so everything is already done...for now," Carlitos stated, looking at the clock.

"I see," Shuichi trailed off.

Carlitos watched as the red headed boy walked back to the seat he previously occupied and pulled a book out, flipping the book open to the page he left off at and started reading. Sighing, Carlitos checked the time once again and realized the boy only had five more minutes until he could leave. She turned her gaze back to the red headed boy and leaned back in her chair. Once she had stared at the boy long enough to burn his image into her mind, she leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, waiting out the rest of the thirty minutes.

It had only seemed like a few seconds passed before her eyes opened and she looked up to see the red headed boy standing by his desk, back pack slung over his right shoulder. Carlitos blinked a few times before registering what he had said.

"I'll be taking my leave now, Profesora Escutia," Shuichi stated, waiting for a response.

"Si, nos vemos manana," Carlitos responsed, leaning her head back against her seat and closing her eyes once more.

"Adios," Shuichi responded, leaving the classroom.

Carlitos opened her eyes once gone and heaved a heavy sigh before leaning forward and massaging her temples. After a few moments, Carlitos gathered up her things and left herself, locking the classroom door behind her.

* * *

 ** _Alright guys, there you have it. I feel like this chapter could have been written better, but oh well. Hope you enjoy. - Kukuyoi_**


	6. Author's Note

Hey guys, because I am a bit OCD about some things I feel that the first few chapters are poorly written and I am going to do my best to rewrite them and make them better as well as try to redo some of the scenes with Carlitos, Noriko, and Claude to make them less long and more interesting. If you guys have any ideas or things you would like to see, you can PM me or write a review and I'll see about adding them if they fit in with what I planned for the story.

I'll try to have all of the redited chapters posted before wednesday of this week, but if not you can definitely count on them being posted wednesday as well as the next chapter of the story. So sit tight guys.

-Kukuyoi


End file.
